Money Manager Accused of Death Threats Against Securities Lawyers, Top Regulators
A New York money manager has been charged with threatening to kill 47 current and former securities regulators, including lawyers who worked on a lawsuit accusing him of running unregistered commodity pools.
Among the officials allegedly targeted were Mary Schapiro of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Gary Gensler of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.
Vincent McCrudden was accused of making the threats on his websites and in e-mails, according to the criminal complaint quoted in the stories. One of his websites posted an “execution list” of 47 officials from the SEC, the CFTC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the National Futures Association, prosecutors say. “Go buy a gun, and let’s get to work in taking back our country from these criminals,” McCrudden allegedly wrote on one site. “I will be the first one to lead by example.”
McCrudden is also accused of sending a December e-mail to an CFTC lawyer working on the case against him that read, “You’re not getting away with this. … Merry Christmas!” Another e-mail dispatched to a CFTC lawyer allegedly threatened Gensler with this missive: “You can tell that f—ing corrupt piece of Goldman Sachs shit (G.G.) I am coming after him as well.”
McCrudden’s lawyer, Bruce Barket of Garden City, N.Y., told Reuters that his client is ill-mannered and short-tempered. “But the idea that he was actually threatening somebody is ludicrous,” Barket said.
